The present invention relates to a replenishing device for replenishing a solid processing agent in the photosensitive material processing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a handy replenishing device used for the processing apparatus in which silver halide photosensitive material is processed.
Conventionally, a processing solution is replenished to the photosensitive material processing apparatus in such a manner that an original solution for replenishment is diluted and dissolved so that a processing solution of the predetermined concentration can be provided. After a predetermined amount of photosensitive material such as rolls of negative photographic films or sheets of photographic paper are processed, a replenishing device, for example, a pump for replenishment use is operated for a predetermined period of time so as to replenish the processing tank with the processing solution. In this case, the amount of processing solution to be replenished is indirectly measured.
After silver halide material has been exposed to light, it is subjected to the processing of development, desilvering, washing and stabilization. Usually, this processing is conducted by an automatic developing apparatus. In this case, a replenishment type developing apparatus is generally adopted, in which a replenisher is fed into the automatic developing apparatus. Due to the foregoing replenishment type developing apparatus, the degree of activity of the processing agent in a processing tank can be controlled to be constant.
In the replenishment type developing apparatus, substance that has dissolved out from photosensitive material can be diluted, and components that have evaporated and consumed can be replenished. As a result of replenishment, a large amount of solution overflows and discharges out of the developing apparatus.
In order to process photosensitive materials on a commercial base, it is necessary to reduce the cost and labor. Also, it is necessary to prevent the public pollution. Further, in order to enhance the commodity value, it is necessary to use a processing solution, the amount of which is as small as possible, and it is also necessary that the processing performance is stable and excellent.
In order to meet the demand described above, a method is disclosed in the official gazette of W092/20013, by which almost all processing agent components are solidified and directly charged into a processing tank.
However, this method is disadvantageous in that a moisture proof measure can not be appropriately taken. That is, when a solid processing agent absorbs moisture, it can not be charged into the processing solution. Further, powder generated from the solid processing agent is scattered and mixed in another processing tank, so that the photographic performance is deteriorated. The present applicant made a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/261,847 (Filing date: Jun. 17, 1994) now U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,962 for solving the above problems. The present invention has been achieved for accomplishing the following improvements.
1. Photosensitive materials must be positively processed without failure. Therefore, high reliability is required for the conveyance of a solid processing agent when it is conveyed in the processing apparatus. In case of emergency, it is necessary that the occurrence of a problem is immediately detected and an appropriate countermeasure is taken.
2. It is necessary to prevent a solid processing agent from absorbing the moisture so that the solid processing agent can be more positively conveyed.